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Scary electrics!

Chancer

By Chancer
in House Renovations

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Chancer Newbie

Chancer

Posted
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Luckily this winter I am in my first finished, warm and consuel inspected apartment, however the existing wiring in the main building (which was an hotel/brothel) remains as was until the renovation progresses further.

The first is what passes for a fusebox or tableau, in fact if you try to remove any of the fuses the board comes away from the wall so you have to grip it with your other hand whilst avoiding shocks from the perished fabric insulation.

The burning visible on the fuseholders is because someone had replaced the fusewires with solder, oh and they are single pole fuses but the polarity had clearly never been checked as they switch the neutral meaning that when you pull a fuse, appliances on that circuit stop working but are still live.

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Electricity/CIMG0816.jpg[/IMG]

These are typical shots of the fabric cables running in unearthed lead conduits, the twisted ones similar to bell wire are shellac coated covered with thin decaying fabric and are held on the wall with metal thumbtack like uninsulated fasteners, it runs to the upstairs lights from the broken porcelain open connector crossing the unearthed lead conduit.

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Electricity/CIMG0819.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Electricity/CIMG0818.jpg[/IMG]

This is how they used to get rid of customers who stayed in the rooms to long with the "putes" they would pull the breaker outside the room cutting off the lights and sockets, which all ran off the same cable.

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Electricity/CIMG0821.jpg[/IMG]

This has been turned upside down for clarity, it is the breaker and junction box for the bedroom that I used for the first 18 months, one day when replacing the mainsfuse the surge just melted one of the wires, it was really difficult to do the bodge repair that you see because the conductor was so brittle and the insulation perished. Oh and the mini-trunking is wooden which I have never seen before, like most of the wiring.

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Electricity/CIMG0820.jpg[/IMG]

EDF were quite happy to reconnect the power to the building when I moved in but the guy wished me luck and said I would need it!

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cartref Newbie

cartref

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Ohmygod, and I thought mine was bad. I bought a house built in 1975 which on the surface looked a real good buy but the plumbing and electrics are well................. They would never have been passed by an English  building inspector, no way!!  Some of the wiring was actually done with telephone wire. Earth wire was all over the place , live wires in the wall where they had removed wall lights. Electric oven on a 10 amp fuse. Two fuseboards, one for the original part of the house and another one for the extension. The upstairs loft area resembles a spiders web of cables running hither and thither. But every cloud and all that, the guy who has fitted my kitchen is a magician when it comes to solving problems, both for plumbing and electrics and a partial re-wire is to be done shortly (not sure that is the right word to use[:)]).

roseysan

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Framboise Newbie

Framboise

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Even here!  OH working on a million £ house at present, built in 1971.  

Example of electrical nightmare - 3 double sockets around a window bay, wired in a sequence from one socket in the corner of the room.  The wire is cable-clipped along the plaster between them!    The light switches are about 18 inches from the floor (?).

The  electrician had a  look to see what needed to be done, to which recoiling in horror he said that it needed a full re-wire throughout as its downright dangerous what with the knackered circuit board and dodgy wiring in situ, therefore the lady is now looking at nearly 7k to put right the wiring in her new home.     And no she didn't get an independent survey done having relied on the building society surveyor's words - now realising that perhaps she might have made a bit of a faux pas.   

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Val_2 Newbie

Val_2

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Went with OH to look at a potential purchase for a previous client this morning. Previously english owned and what a deathtrap. They had put in english cable not suitable for the current and then cemented the almost bare main EDF cable to the wall so it has no space to vibrate.The whole place was horrendous and the asking price riduculous too so the offer has been dropped well below.We had a visit from the neighbour at the same time complaining that it was too expensive for locals to buy and he wasn't happy about more english in the village. Oh yes, an english stove installed with french pipe that was in the wrong way and only two thirds up the chimney so the rain pours in and its a danger when too hot or spark fly out in the chimney space. When are they going to do things properly and spend decent money doing places up. Our clients hope the compulsory inspection will throw them some more amunition to bargain with and it will be interesting to see if he/she notices the electric cables and concrete over the main one.
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powerdesal Newbie

powerdesal

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[quote user="Val_2"]Went with OH to look at a potential purchase for a previous client this morning. Previously english owned and what a deathtrap. They had put in english cable not suitable for the current and then cemented the almost bare main EDF cable to the wall so it has no space to vibrate.The whole place was horrendous and the asking price riduculous too so the offer has been dropped well below.We had a visit from the neighbour at the same time complaining that it was too expensive for locals to buy and he wasn't happy about more english in the village. Oh yes, an english stove installed with french pipe that was in the wrong way and only two thirds up the chimney so the rain pours in and its a danger when too hot or spark fly out in the chimney space. When are they going to do things properly and spend decent money doing places up. Our clients hope the compulsory inspection will throw them some more amunition to bargain with and it will be interesting to see if he/she notices the electric cables and concrete over the main one.[/quote]

Obviously a "few" problems. The "almost bare EDF cable" ??????  Power cables, bare or not do not need "space to vibrate". Power cables should not vibrate anyway.

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Ford Anglia Newbie

Ford Anglia

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When we bought our house 5 years ago, it was "all" "protected" by ONE 16A fuse in a ceramic holder, with a second holder next to it cotaining a barette which cut off the neutral once removed.

Not too bad really, except that the cables from the main switch to those fuses had been crossed, so that the fuse was on the neutral. Both cables were blue, too.[:@]You then removed the fuse, reached in to pull out the barette and promptly got a nice belt for your trouble[:'(]

There was no earth either............

Now replaced by 6 sq mm cabling, in the correct colours, two RCD's and circuit breakers, plus a good earth. It's a start, anyway.

One day I'll bite the bullet and pull out all the old wiring and start again. Then I can get rid of all the TINY plastic junction boxes, each one having about 6 wires feeding in, and most of who's lids have disintegrated.

Luckily, they're all at ceiling level, but I did brush one and get a tingle while painting last week...........[8-)]

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  • 1 month later...
Chancer Newbie

Chancer

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I have now found the picture of the instant heat shower so beloved in Latin America, normally they were connected using those horrible American twist connectors which made them only marginally less dangerous.

[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Electricity/DSCF0408.jpg[/IMG]

This one was the crème de la crème, and yes I did use it! As the steam gradually rose the 230 volts (this was South not North America as witnessed by the small conductors) leaked to the unearthed pipework making turning off the tap an enlightening experience to say the least.

It did in fact solve the mystery to me as to why I nearly always got an electric shock when using the sink or shower in nearly every hostel that I stayed in, some people just plain refused to wash anywhere except in rivers.

This picture was not in fact taken in a hostel but a sub 5 dollar (my maximum budget at the time) hotel in either Peru or Bolivia.

Aside from the danger they were great little shower units but I'm not sure if they would catch on in Europe.

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woolybanana Newbie

woolybanana

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Last week I went to look at a Brit owned place in the Pas de Calais, taking with me my little checklist of things to look at around the place. You know the sort of thing: open the fusebox, check fuses for age, signs of burning, check earth, undo sockets to see wiring; check for signs of damp by moving furniture etcetcetc. The owner got quite stroppy, not only because I was doing a quick first look quite thoroughly but because I immediately began to find the things that had been covered over. As for overpriced, wow, did they think a coat of paint merited extortion. Even the house agent looked a bit sheepish but at least had the decency to laugh about it afterwards, hoping I think that he would not be back or that I wouldn't spread the word to other clients.

Make a checklist guys and look, look, look. Then, if you are still interested, get a specialist to stick his/her nose in too.

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